Young filmmakers gather fo film festival
Primastuti Handayani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Bali Room of Hotel Indonesia in Central Jakarta was the scene of a surprising sight on Thursday. Over 500 youths, mostly in their early 20s, were gathered there, but not to take part in the Thousand Candles for Bali vigil for the victims of last weekend's bombings.
Instead, they had their own agenda at the fourth annual Indonesia Independent Film and Video Festival, which was taking place in the hotel from Thursday through Sunday.
The Bali Room, which usually hosts seminars, was turned into a movie theater to allow the participants to watch 78 contesting films from young filmmakers nationwide.
The festival was staged for the first time in 1999 by young filmmakers in KONFIDEN (the Independent Film Community). They are greatly concerned about the poor state of national filmmaking in the country.
With 50 films competing in its initial year and watched by about 1,000 spectators, the festival has gained fame and many young filmmakers are eager to submit their work.
This year's festival -- using the theme Kualitas dalam Berkarya (Quality in Work) -- was officially opened on Thursday evening with Air Mata Surga (Heaven's Tears) from the Yogyakarta- based duo of Eddie Cahyono and Ifa Isfansyah. They won last year's drama category from the Science, Aesthetic and Technology (SET) Foundation, established by film director Garin Nugroho, with their entry Di Antara Masa Lalu dan Masa Sekarang (Between the Past and the Present).
To my surprise, and most of the audience's, Air Mata Surga is a very good movie. I mean really good. The story is a simple one about a friendship between Dede, whose mother wants her to win a traditional Javanese dance competition, and Tonton. Prior to the competition, Dede has an accident while she and Tonton chase his kite. The accident disables her from participating in the competition.
The way these two directors shoot the scenes in the paddy fields reminded us of the beauty of Garin Nugroho's films.
"It's not easy to make a movie," Ifa said after the opening. "It was very hot during the day and cold during the night shooting on location at Barong temple in Kalasan, Central Java. Most of the crew couldn't stand it and they got sick."
"The way we struggled to finish the movie was like the plot in Air Mata Surga," said Eddie. "It gets the point across of how difficult it is to chase our dreams."
Both students of the Indonesia Arts Institute's School of Television shared their experiences in raising funds to finance their project -- a problem faced by all young filmmakers.
"We're glad that many donors helped us, including renowned painter Joko Pekik. To keep production costs down, we had to borrow editing equipment and cameras," Ifa said.
During the four-day event, the youths also enjoyed 34 films from other invited participants from Japan, England, Canada, the United States, the Netherlands, Palestine and Argentina. The participants also joined in discussions, the Emergency Unit Forum for Film Production, seminars and a forum on mafin (independent film creatures).
The program for the final day, running from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., will officially be closed with a movie showing of A Journey to Tarakan by Karel Doing.
The Kuldesak Foundation, founded by noted director Mira Lesmana, will hand out awards for best movie and best technical achievement. The SET Foundation will give out awards for best director, best documentary and best movie, while KONFIDEN will present the viewer's choice award for the most favorite movie.
If you want to know who wins this year's festival, come down to Hotel Indonesia on Oct. 20 and mingle with the participants. You're bound to get a good glimpse of the future of our national film scene.